After months and months of speculation, Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially announced his split from wife Lyudmila after thirty years of marriage. The confirmation of the pending divorce confirms speculation that there was a fracture in the marriage since the pair have been out of the spotlight (and rarely seen together publicly) since mid 2012. Additionally, rumors have been running rampant that Putin fathered two children with his twenty nine year old Olympic gymnast mistress Alina Kabaeva though officials from the Kremlin deny the allegations. Kabaeva is mother to a three year old boy she has insisted is her "nephew" and a daughter born in November 2012.

As for the Putin split, the former First couple claim that distance and the fact they rarely spent time together. Speculation abounds that Lyudmila has lived in a convent near Estonia for some time and that it will be a "civilized divorce" per her own words during an Russia24 interview on Thursday, June 6, 2013 when the President and First Lady confirmed the split.

As for the official word regarding the divorce, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitri Peskov assured "there was no other woman in the President's life" and insisted "Anything that concern's Vladimir Putin's private life concerns only him, and he has never made it public. This is his principle, he has deserved this right, and let's treat it with respect."